As Tram Colwin and her family prepared to leave Vietnam and come to America, the most important question in her young life was, “What all can I bring?”

That’s the hook of her latest exhibit, “What We Carry,” which refers to not only the objects packed up by various refugees and immigrants, but the trauma from the experience of getting to the U.S.

The show opens to the public August 9 at the Medium in Springdale, where it will stay for the remainder of the month. Then it will have two more stops: 8th Street Market for September and Fayetteville Public Library October through December.

“This collection is designed to connect you with the lives of a few members of Northwest Arkansas’ refugee and immigrant community,” Colwin said in a release. “The still-life watercolor paintings in this collection are of objects that held special significance to the refugees and immigrants who carried them on their journey to America.”

The works spotlight the unique experiences 12 individuals from 10 different countries. Colwin is a 2023 recipient of the Community Activator grant from Artists 3 60, and this exhibit was her proposal project. It is funded by Artists 3 60, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, made possible through philanthropic support from the Walton Family Foundation, along with contributions from Narrative Network, Louis and Ashlie Page, and private donors.

Colwin originally got the idea for “What We Carry” between four and five years ago and has been dreaming about it ever since.

“Part of it is an ode to my family’s story,” Colwin said by Zoom last week. Conducting the project here is fitting. “Northwest Arkansas is one of the hubs that helps resettle refugees to America.”

Nonprofit organization Canopy NWA takes an active role in that and has been a partner of Colwin’s throughout her project, helping her connect with participants.

As part of the community activator grant, Colwin was required to bring in other local creatives to work together. It began with the hope for a visual narrative and has grown to more of an experience. Viewers can take in her paintings, then read about each participant and finally use a QR code to connect with the video interview of the refugee or immigrant whose object was artistically depicted.

“I wanted people to hear (these people’s stories) in their own words,” Colwin said. “It took a lot of collaboration.”

Two interpreters were on board to help make the project a reality.

It’s personal

Tram Colwin’s parents were U.S. allies in Vietnam. Her father was a Prisoner of War in reeducation camps and her mother worked to help with artillery inventory with the U.S. Embassy. The two had been childhood friends, and after her father got out of the camps, they found each other again and were married.

“They didn’t want to leave (Vietnam), because their family was all there,” Colwin said. “They wanted to rebuild their lives.”

So they bought land and began to work it. In 1994, the communist government wanted to seize their property, but the couple refused to give it up. As a result, workers came to their home with bulldozers to wreck it. Colwin was a young child, engrossed in her play, but remembers her mother getting her out of the house, then watching their house get destroyed. Only the gable of the house was left standing.

Tram and her family lived under that small area and refused to move. Though her understanding of the extent of the situation was limited at the time, her parents fought for their rights to the land by remaining on site and submitting paperwork to prove their legitimate ownership.

“The (government) got tired of us not leaving and we rebuilt our home,” Colwin said. They lived under the gable, which they had tented, for something like nine months to a year as they rebuilt. But all was not well. It was rumored that the local government was “going to make trouble for my dad,” so her parents applied to a humanitarian aid program that was available at the time.

The orderly departure program was designed to assist U.S. Allies to come to America. Tram’s parents applied in 1996 and the process was extensive. They were repeatedly interviewed and they had to collect evidence of their need to relocate, so they took photos of their desecrated house. All such programs have a series of steps.

“We were vetted,” Colwin said. “All of the refugees that come through the Canopy program, every single one are vetted, a process that takes (between) one and 10 years, while the (potential participants) are living in a refugee camp or another place.”

It took another year for Colwin’s parents to be vetted and in that time they were interviewed three or four times. On the final interview, Tram and her siblings were asked questions about their parents and what they hoped to bring with them to the States.

In the months leading up to their departure, Tram was pulled out of school so she could spend time learning English at home, and the whole family started sifting through their possessions. Their luggage would be limited, so she wouldn’t be able to sneak in all her comic books.

Items of significance

As Tram Colwin asked participants what object they brought with them on their journey to America, the answers are filled with the circumstances of leaving home. The item symbolizes that. The majority of them came through Canopy’s help and some share how the nonprofit has impacted their lives and hopes for the future.

Originally Colwin hoped to share more stories of full families, but that proved difficult, given that so many families are separated in the chaotic nature of leaving a war-torn country during an emergency. While some spent a decade in refugee camps, others lost track of each other en route to the airport after the fall of Afghanistan.

Colwin’s own family had time to sift through things, but many didn’t.

Among the items Tram depicts in her paintings are a ring, gifted from a participant’s mother; a hijab gifted by a mom on the day her daughter had to go to the airport; a soccer ball that symbolizes the relaxation and enjoyment one person had growing up in a Rwandan refugee camp. Others are a tea set, integral to one participant’s culture; a food covering used in a wedding ceremony and a prayer mat and Quran.

There’s one participant in particular you won’t find a video for, since he was only 16 years old when he was separated from his family and became sole guardian for his sister. He has since graduated from high school in Northwest Arkansas, where he navigated learning English and figuring out the public school system.

“I wanted to highlight the experience, what they go through, the title (What We Carry) is not just the physical object, but the hopes and dreams, and trauma,” Colwin said. “People sometimes don’t stop to think about … not only are people to adapt to the culture and learn the language, but overcome trauma.”

Colwin’s hope is to highlight the all-encompassing weight, which so many carry with resilience.

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FAQ

“What We Carry,” A visual narrative of a people displaced, in search of belonging, by Tram Colwin

WHEN — Opening Reception 6-8 p.m. Friday, August 9. Q&A session is 7 p.m. The exhibit will be on view there through the end of August. An opening reception at Hillfolk is planned for 5:30-7:30 p.m. September 6.

WHERE — The Medium 214 S. Main St. Springdale. Exhibit moves to 8th Street Market for September and the Fayetteville Public Library October through December.

COST — Free

INFO — tramcolwinstudio.com/what-we-carry-project. The virtual gallery which can be accessed through the same link and will be live following the first opening, Friday, August 9.